Hospital officials seek tax reprieve

Monday

Jun 21, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 15, 2012 at 12:03 PM

MARK I. JOHNSON, Staff Writer

Bert Fish Medical Center wants out from under the New Smyrna Beach Community Redevelopment Agency's taxing authority.

Hospital administrators will come before the City Commission on Tuesday to seek an exemption from the law requiring the medical center provide a portion of the property taxes it collects for indigent health care to the city's redevelopment efforts.

"It is a simple question of: Should hospital tax money, collected to provide health services for the poor and the needy, be used to fund projects of the CRA or is it better used to care for patients in need?" said Garry Mac, spokesman for Bert Fish Medical Center.

"With this request, hospital district commissioners have said they feel their responsibility to provide care to indigent patients is hampered because of the assessment to fund the New Smyrna Beach CRA with hospital tax dollars. So we are respectfully asking to be taken out of the CRA district."

The meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Commission Chambers at City Hall, 210 Sams Ave.

The request comes just months after the Southeast Volusia Hospital District's board of commissioners refused to pay almost $800,000 in tax increment funding. The district is the governing board for the publicly-funded medical center, and it recently reached agreement with Florida Hospital to take over management of the hospital this summer.

After much haggling the hospital agreed to fork over the dollars provided it did not have to pay late fees or penalties and could seek the exemption.

During April's settlement meeting, hospital Administrator Bob Williams said in the current economic and health care environment Bert Fish can no longer afford to shell out money earmarked to pay for medical care for uninsured patients. It was estimated that in the 25 years the hospital has been part of the redevelopment district it has paid more than $5 million, but it has received very little for those dollars.

That argument fell flat with the CRA board of directors who voted 6-1 for denial.

"In New Smyrna Beach, the hospital is a vital component of the CRA," the agency's director, Tony Otte, wrote in his staff report. "It is our largest employer and a busy destination point every day for people coming into the CRA."

Otte also concluded the redevelopment contribution has a minimal impact on the hospital district's budget, but its loss would have a "disastrous" effect on his spending plan.